Before He was Lassie
by camocase09
Summary: Takes place after Andie O'Neill's story of the same title. Young Shawn has a crush on the cop that is staying at his house after a fight with his wife. Contains: Slashy crushes and future SHASSIE!
1. Chapter 1

Okay, New Story! This is based off and follows Andie O'Neill's story of the same title! I asked permission to use it, so if you are unsure, you can ask her!

None of it is mine! Please Review!

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Shawn sat with his dad, eating the fish they had caught before the storm that was going on. He heard a noise, knocking, over the thunder. He looked up at his dad, who went to answer the door.

Shawn walked sneakily to the doorway and peered around the corner, trying to see who was at the door. When his father moved, he realized it was the cop from the holding cells, the one with the fake mustache, only now he didn't have the fuzz on his face.

"Can I stay here for a night or two? Victoria and I got in a fight this evening." The unnamed cop asked. "yeah, sure, sure, stay as long as you need." His dad knew how bad it could be after fighting with your spouse. "Let's get you out of these wet clothes." Shawn then decided to make an appearance.

"Oh, Shawn, this is Carlton Lassiter, he was watching the holding cells while you were down there." Shawn looked away from him bashfully, thinking that the man looked cuter with his hair slicked down by the rain than when it was gelled into a strict-looking hairstyle. "Um, hi." Shawn said before running up to his room, not even bothering to take care of his dinner plate.

"Well, that's strange, he never is that shy. Anyways, we'll get you set up in the guest room and you can stay here as long as necessary." Lassiter followed Henry up the stairs and put his duffel bag down. "You can go ahead and take a shower." So he grabbed a clean set and went to the indicated room.

Shawn ignored the fact that there was someone else in the house and started his homework. In the process of flipping a page, he got a paper cut, a deep one at that. He figured his dad had gotten out of the shower, based on the fact the water wasn't running anymore, and seeing as the band-aids were in the medicine cabinet, he knocked on the door. What he didn't expect to see was a wet Carlton Lassiter, wearing nothing but a towel.

Shawn stared a moment before blushing and looking at the cut on his hand. "Sorry, I need a band aid." He quickly grabbed one and started out the door. "Wait, you shouldn't just put a band aid on, you should clean it out first." Lassiter grabbed a bottle of peroxide from where it sat beside the band aids, and sat Shawn down on the closed toilet seat. He had the cut cleaned out in no time, but for Shawn, it felt like forever, seeing as the man was only wearing a towel.

Shawn was blushing brightly, which Lassiter thought was from the steam. "All done." Shawn practically bolted from the room, anxious to get away from the man that was provoking such weird feelings in his stomach.

Shawn was in his room, alone, mulling over what could be wrong with him (remember, Shawn never has crushes, all the girls have crushes on him). He picked up the phone, called Gus, and explained the situation to him. "Shawn, I think that you like, like him. It sounds like when I like liked Call- well, never mind, but still, same general concept." "Well, thanks, but I think you wrong." He said before hanging up.

Shawn walked down to the kitchen, hungry after not finishing dinner. He walked around the corner to see Carlton with his elbows on the table, hands holding his face, and tears dripping onto the table. He quickly looked up and wiped off his face. "It's okay to cry, my dad says it's not, but I think it is." Shawn said consolingly. "I'm 23 years old **(1) **and a police officer, I shouldn't cry." "Can I be your friend?" "What?" "Can I be your friend?" Lassiter looked confused. "Sure, why?" "You must not have very many **(2)**, if you wear a fake mustache to impress them." "I wasn't trying to impress them, I was trying to seem more mature." "Isn't it the same general concept?" "No." Shawn knew his plan to distract him was working.

"Whatever, are you hungry?" "Yeah, kind of." "Do you like fish?" "Yeah, I'll take some." Shawn warmed it up and handed it to him, then got out his dad's 'secret' stash of potato chips. "So, how long have you been a cop?" "Just a few months." "Just curious, how did you keep your mustache on all day?" Lassiter blushed before mumbling, "I reapplied the sticky strip a few times a day." Shawn giggled and threw a handful of chips into his mouth.

Henry walked into the kitchen. "Shawn, it's 11:30; you were supposed to be in bed an hour ago! And those are my chips!" Shawn blushed when his dad mentioned that he had a bedtime. He started to protest, but realized that it would seem like he was whining, so he closed his mouth, put the potato chips away, and went upstairs. "That's strange, he's never willingly complied with me."

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I read something on Google about it only taking 12 weeks to go through police academy, so my reasoning was he got a 4-year degree in college, then went to the academy and after that, he got a job at the SBPD.

Henry had told Carlton that Shawn could be rude sometimes, so Carlton ignored that comment.

Please Review!!!


	2. Chapter 2

Okay, first off, I'm sorry I haven't updated in forever! I've been sick and soooo busy with a big Ballet coming up soon and I've been out of town because my grandma's in the hospital, she has a brain aneurism, so all we can do is hope and pray that she'll be fine. Thanks for all the reviews! Now onto the chapter!

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Shawn woke up to murmuring coming from the next room. He looked at the clock to see 3:00 am. He tried to get back to sleep, but the noise grew to moaning (A/N: I hope you don't think what I was thinking when I wrote this). Shawn rolled from his bed and went into the next room.

There was a streetlight filtering through the blinds which cast an eerie light onto the figure in the bed, who was in the midst of a nightmare. Shawn reached under the pillow and removed the gun he figured would have been around somewhere near.

_'Really, does any cop sleep without a gun?'_

He then shook Carlton awake, who shot up with his hands poised as if he were to shoot him with the gun Shawn had placed on the table. Carlton then noticed that it was Shawn in front of him and that there was no gun in his hands.

"Shawn! Why are you in here; and why is my gun on the table.?"

"Well...you were having a nightmare, and I didn't want to be shot, but anyways, it would've been mean of me to let you continue with a nightmare."

Carlton felt touched that Shawn would wake him up so he could escape from the nightmare; usually Victoria would wake him up so she could get back to sleep.

"Thanks Shawn, you should probably get back to sleep. It is a school night."

"It's 3:10 am. On Saturday **(1)**,I don't think it matters."

"Well you're a growing boy, you need you sleep."

"Okay." Shawn started walking out of the room.

"Hey Shawn, thanks again." Carlton said

Shawn turned back. "You're welcome."

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Shawn woke to the smell of bacon. He quietly walked down the stairs in case Carlton was still sleeping. He was about to round the corner into the kitchen when he heard his dad say something that made him stop in his tracks.

"Carlton, why don't you tell me what you and Victoria fought over last night."

"Well, we've been trying for a baby for ages now, and I've been home early every night except patrol nights so we could, well, you know, and no matter what, nothing's happening!"

Shawn didn't know, but the thought flew from his mind as Carlton continued.

"So I suggested we get tested, maybe see which one of us was stopping us from having a baby. As you can imagine, she wasn't very happy about that suggestion.

He didn't know why Carlton's wife would flip out, he thought it was understandable to want to know why they weren't having a baby.

"She flipped out on me, and I was trying not to yell, but she made me angry, she told me that she didn't want a baby to begin with. As it turns out, she'd been taking birth control to begin with. She wanted children, just not with me. Am I not good eno-" His voice cracked there. Shawn really felt awful for the man. Then his dad said something that made him freeze.

"I know what it feels like to not be good enough. Maddie left because she felt I wasn't home enough. It's just a shame it had to be on the kid's birthday, I hate that his every birthday is a reminder to him that his mom left us. Last Christmas, she sent us a card with a picture. She has a husband and twin daughters now." **(2)**

Shawn had never felt so much hate for someone (his mom) in his life, but then his father continued.

"The funny thing is, she asked me not the tell Shawn and I didn't, because he would hate her and I couldn't expose my son to so much hate."

Shawn couldn't listen anymore. He crept upstairs and called Gus. They arranged to meet at the ultra-secret meeting place, aka, the park. He left a note before sneaking out and leaving on his bike.

Henry decided it was time to get Shawn up, so while he was finishing making breakfast, Carlton went upstairs to get Shawn.

"Henry, Shawn's gone. He left a note, he heard our whole conversation, including the part about his mom."

Henry sat down in shock, he didn't know what to do.

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point **(1) **I wanted to show how disconcerted Carlton was by the fight.

Point **(2)** Is it just me or is it easy to hate people?

We now know why they were fighting and everything! See what happens next! And review!


	3. Chapter 3

HI! I'm sorry I haven't updated in a while, my grandma is getting better, they took the respirator out and she was trying to talk to my aunt, but it was pretty unintelligible, so please keep praying for her. I also got a new phone, so I've been trying to figure it out, it's kinda confusing, it's the Samsung Impression © ! Oh, I had a reviewer asking about Shawn's age, and I know on the preview for this story, I said he was 8, and I told the reviewer he was 9, but now I am changing it and it is my final answer. Shawn is 12 years old.

Now on with the show!

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_Dad,_

_I'm meeting Gus at our ultra-secret meeting place. I heard the whole conversation you had with Carlton. Gus and I are going from the ultra-secret meeting place to mom's house, but don't worry, we have our bikes, so we can run away from any rabid hobo's or scary kidnappers. Don't even think about trying to find us, because we aren't coming home until I see the rest of my family._

_Love Shawn._

Henry sighed, '_My son is so troublesome.' _"We need a plan of action; you start at the park **(1)** and make your way to the freeway heading south, if you don't see them, they probably haven't made it that far yet. I'll ride with you to the park and look around there."

In minutes, he was at the park and Henry was looking for the two missing boys. He then noticed a glimpse of a bike reflector in his peripheral vision. He decided to investigate, and what he found was two bikes, which belonged to the 2 boys, who were not in sight. Henry called Lassiter and informed him that they were still in the park. Lassiter turned around immediately so they could resume the search and hopefully find them soon in the rather large park.

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Shawn and Gus came out from the BK play-place they had gone to so they wouldn't get wet in the sprinkling that had been going on outside, but had stopped after a few minutes. They were going to grab their bikes and get a move on from the park to the freeway, where they would hopefully not get pulled over by cops.

They walked around the tree they had hid their bikes behind and were chagrined to see that the bikes were gone.

"Well, we need to split up, you go from that tree to that way and I'll go from the same tree toward the playground. In 20 minutes, meet back at this tree." Shawn said. (The Spencer family has such swell leadership skills.)

The duo split and started the search. Once arriving at the playground, Shawn saw his bike, along with his dad who was halfway up an inclosed slide, probably arguing with some kid.

"Dad, I told you not to come looking for us."

"Shawn! Where's Gus? You had me worried sick, and Carlton got dragged into this mess also, which I doubt he appreciates very much." Henry Said. "Especially after what you heard us talking about."

Shawn then replied, "Well you couldn't expect me to pretend it never happened, pretend that you took me away from mom like I always thought, and that I don't have 2 half-sisters or a step-father, or that it wasn't my fault she left; I just can't do it!" Shawn actually felt ashamed as the tears he had managed to hold at bay fell.

"Oh Shawn." Henry held his arms open and Shawn ran into them, tears quietly running down his face.

"It wasn't your fault at all; it was my fault, I wasn't there enough for you guys, so she left." Henry said, forgetting about the kid he had been arguing with, while the kid looked at him indignantly from the top of the slide.

Then they heard a commotion, so they both turned to see Gus peddling like a madman with Carlton running behind him. (Remember, those two haven't met yet.)

"That guy stole my bike! So I kicked him and took off on it!" Gus explained.

"Gus, that's Carlton Lassiter; the guy I told you about on the phone. He is also a cop." Shawn explained.

"Oh," Gus said. Then Carlton finally made it over to them.

"Hi, I'm Gus, I'm sorry I kicked you, I thought you were a stranger who was stealing my bike, and then you started chasing me." Gus said, practically in one breath.

Henry then butted in with, "You're 23 years old and a police officer, how did one kick incapacitate you enough for the kid to get away?"

Carlton blushed before looking at the ground and mumbling something.

"What was that? I'm getting old, remember?"

Carlton spoke a little louder. "It wasn't how hard or how many times he kicked me, it was where he kicked me."

A look dawned on Henry's face,who had clearly thought that Gus kicked him in the shin or something else equally less painful.

Gus butted in with, "I did kick him pretty hard too."

"Well let's go home and Lassiter, we'll get you an ice pack once there."

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Okay, that's the end of the 3rd chapter! Review


	4. Chapter 4

Hi! Okay, you're all probably used to me apologizing by now, so do I have to do it again? My grandma is doing much better, she's in a nursing home right now, and after a few weeks, she'll go to one of the hospitals in my area, so keep praying for her. OH! Before I forget, I have a poll on my page that involves this story, so be sure to check it out, because last time I checked, only 2 people had voted. So please give your opinion! Now on with the chapter!

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Henry and Shawn sat in the truck, clearly waiting for something. Henry then picked his cell up and dialed Madeline's home number, just to be sure that she was at home.

"Hello?" Her voice filled the earpiece.

"Hi, it's Henry; I was just seeing if you were home."

"Henry? You should know better than to call my house, either of the girls could have picked the phone up, and my husband could have too!"

"Oh, are the girls there too? Your husband also?" He said, somewhat patronizingly

"Yes, they're all here, now what do you want, because I don't have time for stupid prank calls." If there was any semblance of her enjoying the phone call, it was blown out the window with that comment.

So he answered, "Nothing, just seeing if you were home." He said, and then he hung up.

Shawn looked at him, "Can we go now?"

"Yep, because they're all home." He answered. They climbed out of the truck and walked down the street. Shawn pointed out the house number that matched the address on the piece of paper he had. He quickly ran up the walk and rang the doorbell. Then a hulking, brute of man opened the door. He looked at them strangely.

Can I help you?" The giant asked.

"Hi, can I talk to Madeline?" Henry responded, not in the least intimidated by the man's size.

"I'm sorry, but who are you?" He asked, seeming just a tad protective of his family.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I'm Henry Spencer, her ex-husband, and this is Shawn Spencer, her son." Henry said, perfectly aware that he was giving away Maddie's long kept secret.

The brute stared at Shawn, and obviously saw the resemblance between them, as he let them into the living room.

Shawn had just sat down when Maddie walked into the room with a bowl full of popcorn, which dropped to the floor upon seeing her guests.

"What are you doing here?" She asked, sounding extremely hostile, and Shawn felt uncomfortable being around her while she was this angry. So he figured he'd retaliate.

"Well, I overheard Dad talking about me having a step-dad and half sisters, so I needed to come meet the rest of the family!" Shawn said, somewhat sarcastically.

"Maddie, honey? Do you want to explain why you said I was your first marriage, when you've already been married, and had a kid?!?!" The still nameless hulk looked like he was about to hyperventilate.

She floundered around for an excuse before saying, "How do you know that he's mine, Rick? For all you know, they could be playing you for a fool."

Henry interrupted here with, "Actually, I have our divorce papers and Shawn's birth certificate here." He said as he passed them over to Rick (such a lovely name for a muscular giant, don't you think, I personally couldn't think of any body builder names.)

"Maddie, they look fairly authentic; I think you're busted."

Just then, a small blonde can in, followed by an identical blonde.

"Momma, who are they?" The first one asked.

"Well, he is a friend of mine, and that's his son beside him." She said quickly.

Rick butted in with, "You might as well drop the act. Claire, this is mommy's ex-husband and the other one is your brother.

They looked at each other before saying, "Okay!" In tandem and running out of the room, clearly not understanding the gravity of the situation.

Shawn spoke up to his mom, "I don't care that you got remarried or that you had children, but I hate you for leaving us in the first place, and I hate you for making dad lie to me to save your image in my life. I don't see why it would've mattered anyways, I'm 12 years old!"

Maddie looked at him, shocked and angry. She started to reprimand him, but Henry interrupted her, saying.

"Don't you dare say anything to him, you bitc-horrible person," He cut himself off, not wanting to cuss in front of Shawn, "You lost every right to punish him when you signed the custody of him over to me!"

She imitated a fish before saying hysterically, "Those must be forgeries! I've never been married before! Rick, you've got to believe me!"

"Oh, I think these are definitely real, there are witnesses' signatures and everything. Listen, I'm going to take the girls to visit their grandparents for a few weeks, and you're going to stay here and figure your life out."

He was quick to leave the room, and soon after, you could hear the whining of 2 girls. Maddie's voice soon joined.

"How could you? How could you ruin my life like that?! What did I ever do TO DESERVE THIS!?!?" She looked like she could effortlessly rip off someone's head.

Henry was quick to respond with, "The second that I saw my son crying over what you did to him, it was easy to ruin your life. Lying doesn't work, and I wasn't about to let you lie to him another minute."

She fumed for a second, then left. As they let themselves out, Shawn took a minute to evaluate his emotions.

"Dad?"

"What?"

"I feel so much better now that we got that over with!" Shawn exclaimed, feeling like a huge wait had settled over his shoulders.

"I'm so glad Shawn. Now we better hurry to get back in town, Carlton wanted to meet us for dinner so he could share some news with us. It's really big, apparently."

Shawn blushed, thinking of all the possibilities that Carlton could be announcing. He really hoped that it meant they could spend more time together though!

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Okay! That was it! I would say that I can get more done with thanksgiving break next week, but I'm helping mom out with most of the cooking, so I don't think I'll get much done! So until then!


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